In this fortnightly online column, ADM journalist Corey Lee Bell covers defence news across Japan and the Republic of Korea.
The preliminary results of an open innovation program to support tech start-ups to enter South Korea’s defence industry (K-defence) were announced by the nation’s government portal on 8 April.
The “Open Challenge: Defence Industry” program, which is jointly run by South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense and Ministry of SMEs and Startups, provides funding to selected start-ups to develop new technologies in collaboration with South Korea’s military.
A total of 10 projects for the program were chosen from two streams – “top-down” proposals based on matching start-up capabilities with technology needs identified by South Korea’s defence forces, and “bottom-up” suggestions for new technologies raised by participating tech start-ups themselves.
AI and drones dominated the list of technologies supported in the scheme, in line with priorities outlined in Seoul’s 2022 Defense Innovation 4.0 initiative and defence whitepaper.
Included in the list were devices for detecting and immobilising nano air vehicles (NAV), a drone station for automated 24-hour facility patrol, AI systems for aerial collision avoidance, AI decoy systems for Marine battalion amphibious landings, as well as a system for automating ship-based UAV takeoff and landing in GPS-denied environments.
The chosen projects will receive up to 100 million won (approx. A $95,000) to support collaborative proof of concept (PoC) research, and could be eligible for up to 600 million won (approx. A $570,000) for subsequent research & development (R&D) and pilot procurements.
The program comes against the backdrop of a raft of initiatives to accelerate the induction of technology into defence by facilitating civilian tech start-ups’ entry into the sector – which the government has described as a measure to transform the nation’s traditional “conglomerate-centric” defence industry.
These include a blueprint to foster defence startups, announced in February by both the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, which pledged to provide support for 100 start-ups, as well as 30 venture firms deemed potentially capable of generating over 100 billion won (approx. A $95 million) in annual sales by 2030.
It also comes as defence sector technological sovereignty has received growing attention in Seoul, with a particular focus on developing home-grown AI to counter the nation’s heightened and growing reliance on foreign (particularly US) AI firms.
Among those calling for greater investment in capacity was Sim Seung-bae, head of the AI and Information Planning Division at the government-affiliated Korea Institute of Defense Development (KIDA), who recently wrote that the growing importance of data and network-centric warfare meant that “the use of non-sovereign AI poses an unacceptable strategic risk.”
Deputy Minister of National Defense, Won Jong-dae, who oversees the ministry’s AI policy, stated in relation to the Open Challenge event that his ministry will continue to “provide more opportunities for companies to enter into defence through continuous interdepartmental cooperation, and expedite/accelerate the induction of cutting edge civilian technology into the military.”
Vice Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Noh Yongseok, added that “rapidly applying innovative civilian technology in the sector is the key to the defence industry’s competitiveness in the future,” while affirming that his ministry “will henceforth actively support startups to enter the defence industry ecology and grow their business.”